Ryan Crouser inches closer to three-peat Olympic dream after winning the gold medal in shot put at the U.S. Olympic Trials

Ryan Crouser stole the spotlight on Day two of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field trials after qualifying for the third Olympics of his career. He has clinched two consecutive golds in his first two games and is one step closer to achieving his three-peat Olympic dream.

Crouser made his Olympics debut at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where he clinched gold with a throw of 22.52m, and defended his title again in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with an Olympic record of 23.30m. Now, the Oregon native is poised to defend his title once again at the Paris Olympics, and become the first man ever to win three gold medals in men's shot put.

He booked his ticket to the Paris Olympics, after a throw of 22.84m at the trials. He defeated his competitor, Joe Kovacs, who came in second with a throw of 22.43m. Along with these two, Payton Otterdahl also qualified for the Summer Games.

Citius Mag posted the news on their X account and wrote:

"Still the best of the best. Ryan Crouser opens his season with his 5th straight national title! He had 4 throws over 22.40m with a best of 22.84m. He'll head to Paris with the hope of completing the first Olympic shot put three-peat in history."

Ryan Crouser opens up about making it to the Paris Olympics for the third time

Ryan Crouser has been going through an elbow issue and torn pectoral muscle recently, which led to the Olympics trials being his season opener. After his impressive win and qualification to the Paris Olympics, Crouser opened up about his thoughts on the strength of the US team in a post-race interview with NBC. (via Olympics.com)

"If the whole world had to come to Olympic trials, they might have qualified on efut maybe." Ryan Crouser said.

Emphasizing on his injuries, he stated:

"It was a tough spring to say the least. I was just happy to be out here competing again. You never want to open your season at the Olympic trials if you can help it, but that's kind of what it required."

Joe Kovacs also opened up about the strength of the US team heading towards Paris.

"This is the hardest team in the world to make and we're honored to be able to send in a really strong team this year," Kovacs said.

Before the Olympic trials, Ryan Crouser won the shot put events at the USA Indoor Championships and the World Athletics Indoor Championships.